A Devil for K-Unit
by moonshroom420
Summary: On the hunt for a lost soul, Nico butts heads with the CIA. After completing an assignment to gain their trust, Nico finds himself thrust into life at Brecon Beacons, where he gets put into K-Unit. And he's not the only one underage there... Alex Rider seems to be back and Dr Three is out for him. With Nico's new resolve and determination, how long until something gets blown up?
1. Chapter 1

**The Boy With The Walking Stick**

Byrne had never seen such a grown up child.

The boy sitting across from him was barely fourteen, but the CIA man had glimpsed his dark eyes and knew this was a kid who had seen too much.

The boy was dressed completely in black. His hair was black, his face was pale, and his eyes seemed to look into your very soul. He had a silver ring on his finger with a skull engraved on it, and what Byrne thought was a night-black waking stick hanging from a pouch on the child's waist. The boy radiated cold and death and such raw power for a second, the CIA agent had been paralysed. Then he'd welcomed the uneasy child.

"Hello, son," he greeted, and the boy looked up. His face flickered with something, but then it was blank again.

"Good morning, Mr Byrne," he replied, and his voice sent shivers down the older man's spine as he took a seat behind his desk.

"Who told you my name?" Byrne asked. The boy shrugged.

"I know and hear many things people think I shouldn't be able to," he replied coolly. The CIA head shuffled in his chair.

"Well, I assume you know why you're hear, Mr…"

He trailed off, hoping the young male would supply his name.

"Di Angelo," the boy said. "Nico di Angelo. And I certainly am sure of why I'm here."

Byrne nodded and sorted some papers. He looked up at Nico, then settled for staring at the youth's pale cheek. His eyes were too unnerving.

"Well, the fact is Nico, I'm not sure we can give you what you want."

Nico raised an eyebrow and the CIA agent wasn't sure it was his imagination that the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

"Why is that?" Nico asked, his voice soft but cutting. Byrne squirmed.

"You're a minor, son," he said. "And not to mention that you shouldn't even know about _that _man, much less want to get him out of custody so you can, as you said, 'give him his justice accordingly.'"

Nico didn't move. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the nervous man in front of him.

"Believe me, sir. He is no man. I'm afraid he had wounded my – along with my family's – pride, and my father has demanded that he be returned from whence he came." Nico grinned, and Byrne felt himself freeze. "Which would be my place."

"Where would your place be," the man whispered. Nico shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, everyone ends up there eventually. But not many come back out. And it is always my duty to bring back any, shall we say, _lost souls."_

Byrne felt he was missing something. What Nico said was simple enough, but he put emphasis on the _lost souls _part, and Byrne knew there was a double meaning there that he would never understand. He stared at the boy.

"Who do you work for?"

Nico looked up, surprise flashing in his face.

"Excuse me?"

Byrne looked directly into the boy's eyes and forced himself not to flinch. He might be dealing with a spy from another government agency, attempting to release the arrested man their conversation was about.

"Who hired you to come here and get this criminal out, Nico? What agency sent you, and where is your house?"

Nico was quiet.

Byrne's mind raced. The di Angelo's must be training criminals, then sending them out to make trouble. But, Nico had said not many come back out...

People must die in there.

Reaching this conclusion, Byrne stood up abruptly. Nico tensed and the CIA man pressed a button underneath his desk. Four armed guards poured through the doorway.

"Nico, I am sorry, but until you answer our questions and we've tracked down your family, you will have to stay here. Take him."

The guards reached for Nico's upper arms and one produced a set of cuffs, but before anyone could move, the black walking stick was out and pointed at Byrne's throat. Everyone froze, because it wasn't a walking stick anymore.

A pitch black, glistening blade was less than an inch from the head of the CIA's jugular vein.

"I didn't want to," Nico said slowly. "But you played my hand. That man you arrested – Opir Gellner – isn't a man. I told you this before, Mr Byrne. He has escaped from my father's place and no one but the most dangerous and powerful has done that. He is not a man. Now, you must hand him over, so he can return to the area where he belongs. Do not worry, we will pass judgement on him, and it will be far more successful than yours, I can tell you."

The guards were all frozen with an almost physical fear that seemed to be weighing them down. Nico stood with the blade still pointed at Byrne's neck.

"Would you tell me where you put him?"

No one moved. They were all stunned. Here was a fourteen year old boy in the heart of the CIA and demanding information. Not to mention the long, black sword that had appeared out of nowhere and the darkness that was suddenly creeping over the office. Nico frowned slightly.

"You'll be meeting my father sooner than you'd like if you don't tell me where Gellner is."

"W-We'll tell you, Nico!" Byrne said, stuttering to unlock his jaw from its clamped position. He'd been grinding his teeth as long-buried fears started swimming to the top. Nico lowered his sword. The sudden darkness vanished as soon as it had come. He stepped away and everyone's shoulders drooped as if an actual weight had been lifted off them.

"We'll tell you," Byrne said again. "If you do something for us."

Nico frowned again. He'd spared their lives, what more did they want? But they were already too suspicious, so he had to play along.

"What kind of something?" He asked. Byrne nodded and the guards fanned out around the door. The man sat back down at his desk and tried to act normal as he pulled out a file.

"This man here, Nico." Nico went closer to see a picture of a small, plain-looking man with black-stained teeth, a crooked tie, a tweed suit and curly silver hair. He wasn't looking at the camera, but Nico could see a greedy glint in the way his face was positioned. He was holding a briefcase.

"What about him?"

Byrne handed the file over.

"He's a known drug smuggler to American teens. There have been over four deaths related to the elicit substances found in their systems. We know he is responsible, but we can't pin him down. He won't sell to adults and he somehow always knows when any of my agents go near."

"And you want me to bring him in," Nico finished. He sighed. What a waste of his time.

"Well, I wouldn't ask normally because you're a child, not to mention this was the first time I've been in face-to-face contact with you, but the last time we used a teenager in a mission it was a success."

Byrne left out the fact two of his agents had died during that same mission. Nico nodded slowly.

"I suppose I could. It shouldn't take long, either." He looked at Byrne and slid the file back over, the picture committed to memory. "I'll be back by midnight with this man, and you will give me Gellner. Deal?"

He held out his hand. Byrne had a look of complete confusion on his face.

"Midnight? Tonight?"

Nico nodded impatiently.

"You can't possibly have caught him by then!" Byrne said, shock evident in his voice. Nico rolled his eyes and smiled, making him look like a vampire who had found its next meal.

"I can and I will, Mr Byrne. Trust me, I'll be back in here by midnight tonight with your target. But you had better keep up your end of the deal."

Nico turned and walked towards the door. The guards let him through and as soon as the hinges creaked shut, Byrne let his head fall onto the desk.

Who was this boy?

One of the guards stepped forward, his face uneasy.

"Sir," he said. "Why?"

Byrne looked up.

"You saw him, McGaggon. A child doesn't just walk into the CIA with a _sword, _of all things, and isn't seen. A child doesn't demand he be given a criminal to deal with. What I am seeing, men, is another Agent Rider. But his search will give us time to determine whether he can be trusted.

"Now, find out what you can about the di Angelo's," he ordered one of the men. "We need to know whether Nico's family is involved in criminal training."

The man asked left the room, leaving the other three to stand guard. Byrne looked at them.

"You three go and guard Mr Gellner. It is possible that, if di Angelo is working for an opposing company, he might try and break him out. Don't let anyone in."

They nodded as well and left. Byrne sighed and slid the file closer to him. He looked over the contents and wondered exactly how Nico would manage to get the slippery man to the CIA agent's office by midnight.

**I KNOW I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON! Starting this new story was so bad of me but this idea was bugging me and I haven't seen any others like this around, and I thought **_**why the Hades not? **_**So here it is. Hope you like it and please review. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Spawn of the Devil**

Nico allowed the image of the man to consume his whole mind. He thought so hard he imagined the smoke curling from the inevitable cigarette he would find clamped between the thin lips when he found the drug smuggler.

Four deaths.

Nico thought there had been a small influx of sudden deceased teenagers, but Charon and Hades had kept him in the dark, so he assumed that the new souls were demigods. Turns out not.

Nico had been walking down a dark alleyway, trying to find somewhere completely pitch-black so he could shadow-travel right to this man's doorstep. It was a new skill he'd honed – thinking solely of a person, then allowing his power over the shadows to take him directly to them.

But what an honest waste of time.

The only reason Nico was doing this at all and hadn't just shadow-travelled into Gellner's cell and transported the wayward spirit back to the Underworld was because he was bored. Simply and inexcusably bored. He wanted to have some fun by messing around with a couple of secret service agencies heads.

Gellner had been a big criminal himself, sentenced to the Fields of Punishment after a life-time of notorious crime. He must have started causing havoc the moment he escaped, hence winding up in the CIA's prison block, also putting a new assignment onto Nico's plate.

In a way, the son of Hades looked forward to it. It was something to do. The Underworld was crowded, he wasn't welcome at either Camp's, and he preferred these trivial chores to wandering through his father's palace and being told off by Persephone.

Finally, the child of the Underworld found a shadow he deemed suitable. The darkness rippled and he stepped into it, focusing on the man from the file with all his mind. For a second, all he saw was blackness. Then he was disgorged from its hold, and Nico took a few running steps before straightening up and looking around.

He was now inside an apartment – a grubby, dirty and shady place that had a thin, white film of smoke hovering below the ceiling. The windows were tight shut, silicon sealing each one off from the smog filling the flat. Nico took this all in – the stained couch he was standing on, the peeling wallpaper, and the boiling pot on top of the grotty stove. He shrugged. He'd seen worse.

Suddenly, something cold and hard pressed into the back of Nico's neck. A presence had entered the room – Nico felt the life-force – and the person was holding a knife to the soft skin under Nico's hairline.

"No funny crap, kid. I gots me a gun here, so just you turn around slowly and I won't plug ya with it. What do you want?"

Nico rolled his eyes and turned around. He was met with an ugly face, a cigar dripping from waxy lips. The tweed suit hadn't changed and neither had the greedy glint that covered the man's face.

"What you doing here, brat?" He asked again. Nico's lips stretched in a half-smile that sent involuntary shivers down the armed man's spine.

"I just came to tell you that the dead don't take kindly to being cheated."

Confusion swept over the waxy face and the gun was brought up higher.

"Whatcha meaning with that, scum?" He spat, screwing the tip of the cigar into his teeth to hold it in place. Nico grinned wider and held out his arms. The gun clicked.

"It means that the Devil wishes to repay you the kindness you showed to those children."

Nico held back a laugh at the increasingly shocked look on the man's face. He didn't get to mess with mortals often, and when he did, he made it good. The druggie twisted his face around, anger taking over.

"I'm not someone to mess with, kid. Beat it before I beat you."

Nico grinned like a maniac.

"You think you can beat me?" He asked, amused. The man scoffed and pulled up his gun, but before he could even touch the trigger, the tip of Nico's Stygian Iron sword was at his throat. He froze.

"I said, you think you can beat me," Nico repeated, and he was rewarded with a tangible wave of fear that washed from the man in front of him.

"N-Now don't get hasty," he stuttered, but Nico rolled his eyes.

"You mortals. Always to thick," he muttered. Then he looked right into the drug dealer's eyes, and watched as the darkened soul behind them shivered. His eyes became pinpricks and before he could collapse from the sheer amount of terror Nico was pouring into his gaze, the son of Hades lifted up his sword and grabbed the man's arm.

"Come on," he said, hefting the mumbling dealer towards a shadow. The man screamed as they entered, and Nico rolled his eyes again.

The only reason he'd said midnight was so he could make a proper impression.

* * *

Byrne stood, white with shock, as the drug dealer was led away. The man was yelling at the head of the CIA. But he wasn't cursing him or swearing. He was saying things Joe Byrne couldn't make sense of.

"A demon!" The druggie howled. "A spawn of the Devil only has such Dark Magic!"

Then the prison cell door banged shut and the shouts were drowned out.

The whole time Nico di Angelo stood in the corner, smiling quietly to himself. How right that dealer was.

Byrne turned slowly to the boy, his face taut with surprise and questions. Nico held out his hand.

"Mr Gellner, if you please," he said pleasantly. Byrne only stared. Nico frowned.

"I did what you asked, Mr Byrne, I'd appreciate the reward for my work. Mr Gellner."

Half-aware of what he was doing, Byrne called in a guard to take Nico too said criminal's hold. But before the boy left, Byrne grabbed his shoulders. Nico tensed up immediately, suspecting a double-cross.

"Di Angelo," Byrne started. "How did you…"

Nico's eyes winked at him, their dark depths taunting.

"Family secret," he said. Byrne shook his head.

"I searched your family," he admitted. "We found nothing. Only the death of a woman by the name Maria di Angelo from the 1900's."

A shadow passed over Nico's face, but it was gone too soon for the CIA head to understand. The boy shrugged.

"Only those heading for the end of the world realise who I am. And by then it's usually too late."

With that cryptic response hanging in the air, Nico left with the guard trailing behind, warily holstering his gun.

For the rest of the night, Byrne couldn't get the image and words of Nico di Angelo out of his head. His family. His life. His interest in retrieving escapees. _A spawn of the Devil. _None of it added up.

"Mr Byrne."

The CIA agent jolted up and stared at the doorway. Nico di Angelo was standing in it, a small smile playing across his lips.

"You wished to see me?"

Byrne didn't know what to say. Yes, he wished to see Nico very much; the boy made him extremely curious and indeed he knew he'd stumbled upon another of those one-in-a-million children with extreme abilities. Another Alex Rider.

Nico took a seat without being told. His walking stick clanged the wood as he sat down. Byrne cleared his throat.

"I am a fast learner, di Angelo, so I now know not to ask. But there is one thing I must question upon."

Nico nodded for him to continue and Byrne swallowed. Moment of truth.

"Do you have any particular interest in espionage?"

**Updates won't be this regular, I just felt like it. Thank you so much everyone for following and reviewing! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A Skill To Be Desired**

"How are you going to get to London without a plane?"

Byrne was still holding Nico's ticket, his hand rigid. Nico was already walking away.

"I'll be there before you, trust me. It was the Royal and General Bank, wasn't it?"

Byrne had hardly nodded before the young boy disappeared around a corner. Still clutching his own air fare ticket and wondering how in the world a teenage boy would get to Britain faster than a plane, Byrne headed to the airport. He had his doubts, but locked them away, remembering their conversation.

"_Do you have any particular interest in espionage?"_

_Nico sat and thought about it. _

"_Not much," he admitted. "I only associated spies and agents with childhood fantasies, and I am far from being a child."_

_Byrne thought that Nico should still be dreaming of being spy. Something awful must have happened to make a young boy grow up so fast. _

"_Well, I am offering you a position in an organisation."_

_Nico choked on his words, could completely unawares. They wanted him to be a _spy?

"_You what?"_

"_I want to offer you a position," Byrne repeated. "We had another child spy and he was a success. And you seem to be another of those rare, gifted kids. We want you with us."_

_Nico had thought about it, concealing his emotions behind a mask of blankness. Then he'd looked Byrne in the eye and said. _

"_I think I will."_

* * *

Nico never remembered being wanted before. Bianca wanted him, and Percy seemed to want to help him, but no one had outright told him they would be honoured to have him near them - working with them. Even after Gaea was defeated Nico was still that weird son of Hades no one wanted to be around.

Nico always expected to die at a young age – most demigods did. Others went on to become successes in the world. Maybe this was how he would carve his own path. An international secret agent.

Of course, no one could know about his powers. But he would use them to become someone who was respected and idolised, not the one who sent people screaming.

Nico sat down for a moment in the same shadow as before. It was still night time, but the sun was rising steadily and he preferred to shadow-travel at night. Still, a few minutes to think would be good.

Byrne had mentioned another boy who'd done work for them. Nico still didn't know his name, just that he was – still is – a well-respected agent, who'd worked for the heads of MI6 – Mrs Jones and a retired Mr Blunt – for over a year. Byrne had also told him he was going to a British training camp called Brecon Beacons – for how long, he didn't say. Nico was thinking that he could handle anything a mortal could throw at him. He'd been through and seen far worse than any training camp could have. Still, the other teen spy made him curious. His father had recently been fuming over a file of a boy slightly older than Nico who, according to Hades, should have died on several accounts. Nico wondered if this was the same kid. Alex Rider was the name on the stack of paperwork in Hades' office. Nico made it his miniature mission to find out if the prodigy teen he would meet was the Rider who was giving his dad trouble. Hades hadn't managed to come up with a sentence for the 'Excuses for continued living' part of the document, and that was the most valid. Nico decided to find out if there was a good reason Rider was still alive.

Finally standing up, the son of Hades twisted his hips to get rid of a crick in his back. Then, he turned towards the shadow and thought with all his might of the Royal and General Bank in Liverpool Street, London.

* * *

Nico hadn't expected it to be raining so hard. The sky was black with clouds and he was being pelted from all sides by harsh droplets that wormed their way through his aviator jackets thick hide. Walking calmly, Nico looked up to see the water-blurred words of _Royal and General Bank _staring down at him from a gold-and-black sign. Dodging out of the English weather, Nico pushed open the door and went in.

The receptionist looked up, went back to her work, and then did a double-take. Some black-clad boy with a walking stick had just entered the building, and was heading straight for her. The desk came up to his chest, which was well-muscled, and he looked into her eyes with his black ones. A flicker of a smile passed over his lips.

"Hello," he said with an American accent. "My name is Nico di Angelo. I believe a Mrs Jones is expecting me. I was sent here by Mr Byrne of the CIA. Please do not insult my intelligence in pretending this is a legitimate bank."

The receptionist blinked once. Then twice. Then she pressed a button underneath the desk and a second later the elevator to the side of the desk dinged.

Mrs Jones stepped out.

The woman behind the desk was surprised. Usually it was the guards who came when the button was activated, but the head of MI6 must have given them the slip and taken the lift herself. As Nico faced her, the stern woman faltered a step before continuing on until she stood in front of the boy.

"I was informed of your arrival, Mr di Angelo," she said. "Although I was under the impression they had sent someone older."

Nico mentally rolled his eyes. He was around ninety-something actually, counting the time in the Lotus Casino. But that was not something he told anyone. Instead, Nico let a ghostly smile twitch his lips up.

"I get that a lot," he told her. "But usually people only say it once."

It was casual enough, but there was an undercurrent of a threat that made Mrs Jones stiffen up a bit. She caught a glint in the young boys eyes, and realised he was one of those people who'd seen too much too young. Just like…

"Come this way."

Mrs Jones started walking back towards the lift and Nico followed. The guard outside the lift looked curiously at the walking stick strapped to the boy's hip, but the pale protective hand clutching the top deterred the guard from taking it away. He would have to pass it over before he went anywhere alone with Mrs Jones anyway, and seeing as the guard inside the lift was still wide awake, Nico got to keep hold of his disguised sword.

* * *

"Please sit, Nico."

Nico sat, feeling exposed. His sword had been taken before he was allowed to enter Mrs Jones' office and he felt bare without it. Hopefully the meeting would finish soon.

Mrs Jones, now sucking one of her infamous peppermints, linked her hands and leaned forward.

"Mr di Angelo, I would just like to warn you that you do not have to do this. You must be sixteen and over to enter SAS training camp, and you're only fourteen. There has been one exception, and he is one of our most successful operatives. He is only residing at Brecon Beacons for safety, and the rest if classified."

Nico asked before he thought.

"Is his name Alex Rider?"

Mrs Jones went stiff as a board. Nico mentally beat himself up for such a stupid mistake. Her black eyes bored into his.

"How would you know that?"

Nico shrugged, playing it off.

"Mr Byrne mentioned him after I agreed to join."

Byrne had mentioned the other teen spy, but not by name. Anyway, by the time Jones found out, Nico assumed it'd be later.

"Yes," she agreed slowly. "Alex Rider is the other boy. He'll be at Brecon Beacons soon too, and he knows what he's doing. I suspect you'll be put into the same unit, as K-Unit has dealt with young people before."

Nico nodded, processing this.

"But what I want to know, Nico." Mrs Jones leaned closer. "How did you get here so fast? We were only informed of your arrival not fifteen minutes ago, _from America. _Is there something you must tell us?"

Nico hesitated. He didn't know how to answer.

"It's a family secret," he settled on. Mrs Jones narrowed her eyes.

"If it is an ability that could mean the difference between a life and a death, we should know about it. Fifteen minutes, Nico. It's impossible."

_You wouldn't believe me if I told you I hadn't even started journeying until fourteen, _Nico thought to himself.

"I'm afraid I don't know how it works," he said carefully. The head of MI6 nodded warily. This new boy wasn't easy to trust. What he'd done was physically impossible, yet here he was. Maybe SAS training would loosen him up. Maybe.

"Well," she said. "Mr Byrne won't be here for another few hours, and you must be exhausted. We have a spare room you can have while we wait and I'll send in supplies and fresh clothes. You'll be deported to Brecon Beacons tomorrow."

The meeting was clearly over. Nico stood and left, his reward for concentrating so long being the return of his beloved sword. The guard handed the walking stick back, then walked away, gesturing for Nico to follow. He did, and after many corners and twists, a door was in front of him. The guard opened it and Nico warily walked in. The door shut.

The son of Hades checked out the room. A duffel bag sat at the end of a single bed with grey sheets and pillow. Another door led to a bathroom, and the only décor was an oak wood closet. Nico rummaged in the bag, eventually pulling out a spare pair of boxers. He found a set of black silk pants, and set off to the bathroom.

After showering, the son of Hades sat down on the bed and thought, running his hands over his disguised sword. Why did he join the secret agent service?

_To get away from my cursed life. _

Why didn't he go back to the Underworld where he belonged?

_I don't belong there anymore. _

What about the camps?

_They never trusted me anyway. _

How about Hazel?

_I have spare drachma. I'll IM her later. _

And Percy?

_I'm over him. _

Nico stopped the rampage of questions in his head and lay down. He knew he wouldn't sleep long – the nightmares were too bad. But he rested his head onto the pillow and stared at the ceiling before his eyelids closed and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

**Also, guys, there's swearing in this story, because it's in the army and they don't care about language. So, swearing coming up in future chapters. You can just read over it if you don't like it, but I'm trying to make this a realistic as possible and they don't say 'fudge' in the army. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Not A Passing Shadow**

Nico wasn't too thrilled with the uniform for Brecon Beacons camp. He was sitting in the back of a jeep, which was driving him to the SAS training platoon, and moodily picking at the greys and greens and browns of his camo jacket and pants. The moss-green of the combat boots reminded him vividly of vomit. At least the t-shirt underneath was black.

"We're here."

Nico looked up briefly before grabbing his supplied duffle-bag and, making sure his walking stick was strapped securely to his hip, started towards the gates. The driver – another SAS man – followed behind, sneering at the fact they'd sent another boy into the camp.

Nico could feel the contemptuous gaze resting on his back and stopped abruptly. He turned his head to the side of a bit, catching the man in his vision. He stopped too.

"Get a move on, brat," he ordered. Nico narrowed his eyes.

"Do you have a problem with me?" He asked softly, though his voice carried back to his escort and sent shivers down the man's spine.

"Course I do," the man grunted, ignoring the signs of danger. "You're a bleedin' kid coming to an army camp and you look like a bloody twig. Do you expect me _not _to have a problem with you? You better not be in my unit or-"

Faster than the speaker could blink, Nico had spun around and sent a winding kick into the other man's solar plexus. He buckled and gasped, and Nico stood in front of him, his angry aura sucking the light out of the world. The man's eyes widened in fear; the kid looked dangerous now.

"I am aware that people like you do not have any respect for me, and why should you? But I will tell you now that I do not deal lightly with disrespect and when your time comes to meet my father, ultimately I am the one to please. Do not underestimate me, or you will be a very young soul to wander Asphodel."

Then Nico turned around, picking up his duffel bag, and setting off again. The soldier stayed on his knees, air slowly returning to his body, panic clogging his mind as Nico let his powers drift.

"Don't worry, I can find my own way!" Nico called back, the hints of a smile in his voice. The SAS man wasn't worried for the kid, though. He was worried for the people who got in his way.

* * *

A soft knock sounded on the door. Sergeant Daniel Sanders stopped looking over a complaint file he was about to bin, and looked up.

"Enter," he said, and the door creaked open. The sunlight washed around the figure, making his face hard to see. Sanders squinted, trying to see who was in his office. Scowling, he held up a hand.

"Close the bloody door!" He yelled, and the door slammed shut. Blinking harshly, Sanders looked for the inevitable person standing on the doormat. But there was no one. He looked around.

Sanders almost jumped out of his chair.

A pale boy with black hair and dark eyes was already seated in the chair on the other side of the Sergeants desk. He blinked coolly, and Sanders took in his lithe form, the walking stick, and unnatural presence in a second. He also noted how extremely out-of-character the boy looked in green. Sanders sniffed in distain.

"I was told I was to be expecting a new face," he sneered. "What I didn't expect was another teenager!"

Nico shrugged. Sanders scowled again.

"I haven't even got your damn file kid, so you better have it or I'll be throwing you out of this camp by your balls."

The pale youth smiled eerily and the Sergeant actually clamped his mouth shut. Nico reached inside his jacket pocket and produced a folder.

"Here," he said softly, holding the document wallet out. "I expected to be asked for identification and recommendations, so I snagged a copy. The e-mail should be coming in soon anyway."

Sanders raised an eyebrow. How'd a _kid _'snag' a copy of his own file from the CIA? Opening the document, Sanders saw the page was only half-filled. He read it to himself.

**Name: Nico di Angelo**

**Age: Fourteen**

**DOB: **_**Unknown**_

**Family: **_**Unknown (being looked in to)**_

**Acts of Service: Solely caught a wanted criminal in a near-impossible time-space. **

**Precautions: Secretive. Has managed illogical feats (**_**see Joe Byrne for details)**_

Sanders grunted shut the file, not amused.

"Seems like you're nothing special, kid," he said, scowling. "So why'd they send you here if you obviously can't do anything other than pick off petty criminals from the streets?"

Nico had been expecting this, and had an answer loaded on his tongue.

"Mr Byrne and I have been debating for weeks over calls," he explained. "When I arrived at his CIA headquarters, I asked for my demand and they refused. So, I was questioned, and I'm afraid I lost my temper a tad and, well, you can ask Mr Byrne where that went."

Sanders adopted a sick smile.

"No, kid, I'm asking you." He grinned maliciously. "Show me your little _temper tantrum."_

Nico sighed in annoyance and stood up. His walking stick banged the desk. Sanders was about to grin and jibe at him why a fourteen year old needed a walking stick, before something pure black flashed in front of his eyes and a cold feeling spread along his throat. His eyes widened until they were the size of saucers.

"You could be dead in seconds," Nico said calmly as he held the sword to the Sergeants neck. Sanders had gone completely still, fear erupting in his mind as Nico smiled serenely and cocked his head.

"This is my temper tantrum, _sir," _he said, a crooked grin twitching his lips. "And I advise you to believe me when I tell you I am well equipped and hard to break. So, I invite you to bring it on."

Quick as it was there, the sword was gone. Sanders' face was pale and he was shaking like a leaf. A gun never scared him that much. Neither did a knife. That sword of Nico's was something else, something unnatural, and Daniel Sanders had no wish to meet its end again.

"I see," he said slowly. Hesitantly, he tapped the _**Illogical feats **_marking on the file. Suddenly he was afraid to ask, but Nico had seen it and another grin was forming.

"I thought you'd want to look into that," he mused, a vampire-like smile consuming his lips. "Very well. I'll give you a demonstration."

Sanders sat there at his desk as Nico went to the door and wrenched it open. Throwing a look that screamed triumph over his shoulder, Nico closed the door. The Sergeant was left to sweat until Nico turned up with his surprise.

A full second passed and for that time Sanders thought the boy was bluffing. But then a cold feeling spread out behind him and something came down on his shoulder. The touch was light, but the Sergeant felt the freezing skin prickle through his uniform.

"Miss me?" Nico whispered. Sanders jumped in his chair and whipped his head around to stare, wide-eyed and completely freaked, at the utterly impossible boy behind him. Struggling to control his emotions as he had his whole life, Sanders gestured for Nico to take a seat. He did so, facing the man behind the desk.

"Right then," Sanders said, false confidence pouring through every word. "You're in, kid." He smiled nervously. "As long as I'm never on the receiving end of that sword again."

Nico nodded, another satisfied smile flashing over his face.

"Don't worry, sir," he said. "It usually has that effect on people."

Nico stood to leave, reached for the door, and turned around again.

"I was wondering though," he started. "Do you think there could be an exception to the, ah, _choice of colours _for this uniform? If there was a way to dye it black…"

Sanders laughed, easy once again. This boy was on his side. He even dared to crack a joke.

"Sure, kid," he waved it on. "If you can find a way to make that outfit of yours black, be my guest!"

Nico caught the sarcasm, but shrugged it off and trust his arms downwards. The shadow on the floor started growing and, to the eternal shock of the Sergeant, _began to climb up the boys boots. _It rippled and twisted up his uniform, and everywhere it went, blackness was left behind, turning the brown, green and grey uniform black and grey. Even the boots were turned dark. The shadow reached Nico's neck, then just stopped and fell away. Sanders was on the verge of collapse when Nico turned around and flashed him a white-toothed smile.

"Thank you, Sergeant," he said, containing a short laugh at the sight of the man's face. "I feel better now."

He reached once again for the door, but looked over his shoulder before pulling it open.

"I don't expect you to tell anyone what you just saw," he said solemnly, a threat dancing in his eyes. "I am a person who judges men by whom they respect. Where I come from, respect is mandatory. I respect you enough to keep this between us. Okay?"

Sanders jerked his head in hurried agreement before shuffling through another paper.

"Okay Nico," he said. "Here at Brecon, we don't have names. We have code names, an example being the leader of your new Unit: Wolf. The Medic: Snake. And so on." Sanders shuffled Nico's file around before writing something down and showing the boy his allocated name.

"This is yours."

A deep and, what could only be evil, chuckle resonated around the office. Nico tipped his head back and cackled again, the sound raising the Sergeants hairs on their ends as Nico read the code name. Before he could get his bearings though, the teen had gone, leaving behind only the echoes of his humour. Sanders cradled his head.

_First bloody Alex Rider himself arriving tomorrow, _He thought, _and now this unexplainable boy? SAS seems to be attracting all the weirdoes. _

Pretending he never saw anything Nico di Angelo did in those last few minutes, the Sergeant sent for K-Unit. Their newest member was not someone who should wander Brecon Beacons alone.

**I am honesty touched. I never thought this story would get so much attention. Already nearly 500 views! And thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and followed/favourite. **

**Now, I got asked by a Guest if this was going to be an Alex/Nico pairing story. I'm not going to answer, because that would ruin my plan, but anyone who doesn't like it has nothing to worry about, and anyone who supports has nothing to worry about. Basically, you'll both be happy. I hope. I'm mostly aiming for friendship, but with the climax coming and past events in the PJO series, I think you'll like it. **

**But do tell me if you think I should/shouldn't do it!**

**Thank you again!**

**Jasmine Out!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A Devil for K-Unit**

"I still can't believe it!" Wolf growled, his anger washing over the rest of K-Unit. Snake wisely stayed quiet, letting Wolf fume it out. Eagle was not so wise.

"You're just annoyed because I've put you on diaper-duty," the man said, skipping ahead. Wolf's face turned red and Snake stepped back a bit, grabbing the arm of the Unit's fourth member, a wiry, blond haired man called Jaguar. Jaguar stopped too, and stood next to Snake, grinning.

"This oughta be good," he whispered, and the medic agreed, smiling himself. Eagle always brought upon Wolf's wrath by goading him when he was already pissed, and Snake knew it was just because the sharp-shooter was too socially inept to notice.

As predicted, Wolf lunged at his Unit member. Eagle shrieked as the leader's bulk landed on his back and sent them both rolling down the rise that lead to their cabin. Wolf leant in close to Eagle's ear.

"I ain't doing a bloody thing for that brat, bird brain," he yelled. "Except make him wish he'd never been born!"

"That's doing something," Eagle muttered. Wolf aimed a punch at the other man's nose, but Eagle wriggled out of his grip and started skipping again. Wolf groaned and flattened himself out on his back, staring at the sky with half-closed eyes.

"My God," he moaned. "Just kill me now."

Snake stepped over him warily while Jaguar laughed.

"No," the newest member called back. "I think I'll let the kid do that!"

* * *

Wolf recovered enough to feel the need to beat down the door. One knock with his steal-capped combat boots, and the entrance crashed off its hinges, sending up a puff of dirt and dust as it hit the floor inside K-Units cabin. Snake put a hand over his nose.

"We should seriously think about cleaning," he muttered as they walked in, Wolf clenching his fists and staring around to try and find the kid the Sergeant had told them would be here.

"He would have gone straight to the cabin," he'd told them gruffly. Wolf had balled his fists.

"Little brat wouldn't know where the fucking cabin is!" He'd ground out. The Sergeant had flashed him a dark look.

"Whether he did or not he'll be there."

Now, Wolf and the rest of K-Unit looked around. Snake was the first to notice the extra bed.

Eagle noticed that 'bed' needed to be a plural.

Two new sleeping areas were set up inside K-Units cabin. Slack-jawed, the group of men went and prodded around the corner of the room. One of the beds had a duffel bag on it, along with a pillow and blankets; that was the one furthest into the corner. The other was only made up, no bags.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jaguar asked. "I thought there was only one kid coming. What's the extra bed for?"

Wolf poked said bed before straightening. Something had disturbed him – a presence was in the room. Slowly, he turned around, checking the door. The rest of the Unit followed suit, checking the entryway for the gaze they could feel prickling their skin. Wolf turned back around, annoyed with himself for getting freaked.

Then he jumped back with a yell of surprise.

The bed in the corner, who's only occupant had been the bag and blankets, now had an owner. A boy in a black muscle-shirt, slightly tighter black SAS uniform pants and dark combat books was gazing at them curiously. Wolf shivered despite himself. The pale skin and black fringe that hung in the way of shadowy eyes made him relive all the moments in his life he most feared, but he forced himself to take in the boy's appearance entirely, right down to the slim walking stick strapped to his waist.

"I can answer that." The voice was chilly and soft, but the Unit felt themselves freeze up at the sound. After a moment of silence, Wolf shook his head and scowled. The spell broke. The rest of K-Unit started breathing again.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Wolf snarled. The boy's head cocked to the side.

"One of your new Unit members," he replied casually. Eagle choked on his own spit.

"_One_?" Snake asked disbelievingly. "We were told there _was _only one coming."

The black fringe swept over the boy's face as he shook his head.

"No," he answered, looking more pleased with the disrupted atmosphere than he should. "Another boy is coming tomorrow."

Wolf felt blood slip from the palms of his hands and realised he'd been clenching his fists so hard he'd broken the skin. His teeth were hurting from being ground together and his eyes were twitching. Snake was the first to notice.

"Hit the deck!" He cried to Eagle and Jaguar, and the three of them all did a terrible rendition of stop-drop-and-roll, as though Wolf was a blazing fire. Said SAS soldier did resemble one.

Face red with rage, fingers dripping with blood and jaw white with tension, the leader advanced on the boy sitting on the bed. The pale youth tensed up as Wolf approached and gently slid to his feet, hand rested protectively on his walking stick.

"I'm giving you a warning, kid," Wolf spat. "Scram now and I won't beat you to hell."

To his surprise, the boy chuckled.

"I'm the only one who beats to _hell _around here," he said coolly, obviously making a private joke. Wolf yelled and swung at the kid.

As fast as a shadow, black hair flashed past Wolf's shoulder and the punch went wild, forcing Wolf to hit the bedframe. He swore violently as his fist began bruising and a snap sounded through the cabin as one of his fingers cracked. He whirled around to land another shot, only to see white and stunned faces. Eagle and Snake were shaking their heads in shock while Jaguar was pointing between Wolf and where the boy used to be. Only a swirling shadow remained. It slowly started crawling to spin under Wolf's feet.

"Do you believe me now?"

A voice rung down from the ceiling and K-Unit snapped their heads up to stare as the teen stood on the edge of the rafters, looking down with a creepy smile on his face.

"How did you get up there? Come down you brat!" Wolf shouted, glaring. Snake tapped his shoulder, his face white.

"Wolf," he whispered. "Honestly, I'm not shitting you here: one second he was there, ducking under your arm. The next, it was like the shadows just _swallowed _him."

Wolf looked around to the rest of his teammates and, from their expressions, Snake was indeed not shitting him. Even Eagle looked subdued and scared. Wolf stayed still, thinking for a moment. He peered up at the ghostly face seemingly hanging in the darkness of the rafters, and from that unnerving look, he knew that this kid was very, very dangerous.

"How did you get up there?" He called up suddenly. A white smile showed itself from the shadows. Then, it disappeared.

"All you need to know is…" the boy's voice started coming from the ceiling, before it was snatched away suddenly.

"I am no normal child."

And there he was. Walking towards them from the shadow of the doorway. Jaws fell open and even Eagle was too stunned to make a bad pun out of it. He started pointing to the ceiling, then at the door, then back at the ceiling.

"But you were – how did – what the – gah!"

Eagle fell to the ground in theatrical action. Jaguar kicked him, and kept staring.

"What's your name?" He asked. The boy shrugged.

"I'm not allowed to tell you. That's the point," he replied. Snake elbowed Jaguar and took over.

"He means your code name."

"Oh." The evil smile was back again. "My name is Devil."

No one doubted it. Not one bit.

**So the title's explained now. And it won't be like this all the time – I plan on making K-Unit a sort of family for Nico, albeit dysfunctional, but a family. **

**And thank you for the feedback! As potentially interesting an Alex/Nico pairing would be, it's not for this story. Maybe someone else will do it, or it's for another time. **

**Please review! I've gotten so many views on this story it's making me happy, but reviews are even awesomer. **

**Jasmine Out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A Cub for the Devil**

Alex sighed and leaned his head against the window of the blacked-out, bullet-proof car. He'd been in the vehicle for around an hour now, sitting in tense silence in the back while a uniformed guard drove steadily along. Changing the song on his iPod, Alex sighed, withholding a swell of sadness.

His life sucked.

After going to live with the Pleasures in America, Alex thought his life would become normal. He'd gone a full three months at school with Sabina before the CIA had come knocking, tailed by the FBI. They'd come bearing grave news, in two senses.

A threat had been issued against the Pleasures that they turn over Alex or be killed. The FBI had taken the family under their wing, issuing them a heavily-guarded safe-house to stay at. Alex himself had been shipped out of the country as to not further endanger the family. He couldn't live with it if they died because of him. He'd told Sabina they did well, that he loved her, but they couldn't be together any more. He wouldn't do that to her. So he'd left. MI6 had snatched him up the moment he'd touched down. Mrs Jones offered him a smile and told him he was going to Brecon Beacons.

"_For protection," _she'd said. Alex had nodded numbly. He knew who he needed to be protected from.

Scorpia.

The scattered board of criminal masterminds had scraped together a few remaining members with the sole purpose of making sure the bane of their existence ceased to be. That would be that, with its dropping funds, Scorpia would do everything in their power to make sure Alex Rider was killed. He'd even been told Dr Three was prepping up for a fun time before murdering him.

Alex sighed. His normal life was only a dream. An impossible fantasy. No one knew how he felt.

* * *

A few hours later though, standing in the Sergeants office, Alex reconsidered. Someone did seem to know how he felt.

"His code name is Devil," Sanders told him briefly. "He'll be with you and the others."

Clearly the man was more interested in Alex then telling him about the strange new boy in K-Unit. Subtly, Sanders shifted on his chair. Alex smirked.

"So…" the Sergeant said. "Alex Rider."

"That would be me," Alex said, flashing a grin.

"Fifteen."

"Correct."

"World-renowned spy."

"Yep."

"Saved the world on several occasions."

"I get the point, sir."

Sanders sighed and slumped back, looking over the boy. It seemed like yesterday he was yelling at Cub and threatening to bin him just because. Now look where the kid was. Number one target for Scorpia. Number one threat to criminals all over the world. Number one agent to the infamous MI6. Sitting in his office, making sassy comments.

"Good to have you back, Cub."

Alex nodded, grinning.

"Oh yeah. Good to be back."

* * *

Alex wished he had a camera to capture the look on Eagle's face when he opened to door.

Jaw hitting the ground, eyes bugging out and stiff as a board, the SAS man gaped at Alex for almost ten minutes before a rough and annoyed voice called out from inside.

"Shut the bloody door Eagle or I'll stuff you in a bag!"

"Nice to see your tempers cooled off, Wolf!" Alex called back, and a bang inside the cabin made him grin. Stumbling footsteps came closer to the door and Eagle was pulled off his feet as Wolf and Snake appeared.

"_Cub!?" _Snake yelped, grabbing the teen's shoulders. Wolf looked equally surprised.

"_You're _the other kid?!" He asked, his voice a bit higher than usual. Alex prodded his muscled chest.

"You know it, Wolfie," he replied. Then he frowned.

"Other kid?"

Silence washed over the three men in the doorway.

"Yeah, um…" Snake said awkwardly. Alex shook his head.

"Sarge told me about him, but I haven't gotten anything besides 'There's another kid training with you'."

He looked over the faces in the doorway, and was surprised to see respect in each man's eye. A new person suddenly joined the clogged doorway. It was another man.

"Um, I'm Jaguar," he said slowly. Even his eyes shone with the same emotion. Alex stepped back a bit.

"Is there something I should know?" He asked, thinking that if Wolf had respect for anyone, he should run and hide. Snake snapped out of it first.

"Well, yeah, there kind of is. But first, what the hell are _you _doing here?"

Alex was yanked inside the cabin and tossed onto his bed. He noticed another bed close to his.

_Must be where Devil sleeps, _he thought. _The poor kid. Dragged into this. Although…_

K-Unit clustered around him. Jaguar suddenly looked at Wolf.

"Hang on," he said. "Isn't this the same Cub you were ranting about when I got here? That kid who'd come to stay with you before?"

Wolf threw a backwards punch at the other man without even looking, his eyes never leaving Alex's face.

"You worked with Fox," he said suddenly. Alex nodded warily.

"Once, yeah," he said.

"What did you do?"

"Classified."

Wolf groaned and Snake rolled his eyes before Eagle suddenly jumped on top of Alex and smothered him in a hug.

"So many new friends!" He yelled. Alex didn't remember Eagle being quite so hyperactive. But being held by another person made his senses kick in and before anyone knew what had happened, Eagle was on the floor clutching his stomach and trying to breathe.

Jaguar stared from Alex to Eagle. Wolf and Snake picked up their jaws before starting to speak. But they were interrupted by a voice from the bed behind Alex.

"What a heart-felt reunion," it said. "The way you kicked Eagle to the floor brought tears to my eyes."

Alex spun around, and was met with a dark haired, pale faced youth who was wearing black army clothes and a grin. Before he could react, however, Wolf finally spoke.

"Devil, this is Cub."

The boy, Devil, nodded, still smiling eerily.

"I thought as much Wolf, when you called him that," he said, mocking the leader. Alex waited for Wolf to smack Devil to hell, but was surprised and frankly shocked to hear Wolf chuckle. Snake sniggered too and Jaguar snorted while Eagle moaned on the floor. Devil jumped off his bed and swept over to Alex. He held out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," he said, his black eyes staring into Alex's brown ones intensely. Alex felt like his mind was being read, but shrugged it off and grabbed Devil's hand. It was freezing to the touch and Alex forced himself not the yelp and pull away. Eventually, they let go. Devil looked over to Wolf.

"This is the famous Cub then," he said to no one in particular. Alex felt something shiver down his spine as the Unit nodded. Devil went to the door.

"We have testing starting soon, Cub," he said. "I think you have time to unpack before it starts. Wolf's the instructor, right?"

"Yeah," Wolf replied, still staring at Alex. Devil nodded and left. Silence reigned.

"Well, that was different," Alex mused. Snake shook his head, a small smile on his face.

"No kidding, Cub," he replied. "That kid's completely changed about four judgemental attitudes in less than fourteen hours. He's got Wolf wrapped around his finger."

Wolf snarled indignantly at that, but it was half-hearted. Realisation clicked.

"That's why you all seem so damn welcoming," Alex said. Then he grinned at Wolf. "Little Wolfie's learnt how to respect!"

Wolf cuffed Alex over the head, growling. Alex ducked and ran for the door.

"Testing!" He shouted back. "Don't be late, or I'll have to punish you!"

Snake's laughter rang out of the cabin and the sound of the door slamming behind the Unit as they left reached Alex's ears. As he ran though, he thought entirely of Devil.

Who was he?

* * *

Testing managed to answer only half of Alex's question: Devil was someone to fear.

He walked all over Wolf in hand-to-hand, broke the current record for the obstacle-course-from-hell, was a speed-demon by anyone's standards and had finished the 10km hike in half an hour. Alex suspected cheating at first, but saw no way for that to be possible. 10km is 10km, however you look at it.

Devil, on the other hand, was internally grinning. His shadow-travelling powers had gotten to the point they could rival Hades, and 10km had been nothing.

Next, it was Alex's turn.

He saw jaws drop as he ran through the assault course, and Alex ignored them as he moved. The man on stopwatch duty, Salamander, forgot to click to end the timer, so they took around five seconds off Alex's score. The men goggled at it for an age before Alex, standing beside Devil, demanded to see it.

"Ten minutes thirty-one seconds," he muttered. He checked the milliseconds. "Thirty-six."

The complete impossibility of it all sent Alex into a fit of laughter. Beside him, Devil checked the times, before bowing his head and chuckling as well.

They'd got the exact same time; right down to the milliseconds. Behind them, Jaguar was shaking his head, swearing the whole thing was rigged.

Alex and Devil high-fived each other, grins splitting their faces. Alex looked over his fellow teenage recruit. He recognised the hollowed look in the boy's eyes, hidden behind shields. Alex knew, because he had them too. Devil must have gone through something terrible.

* * *

_You have no idea, _Nico thought as Cub studied him. He knew that look; Percy always used to look at him like that, wondering-

_Stop it! _He commanded himself. _That part of my life is over. _

"So," Cub said. "Looks like we're sharing the record breaking title for the assault-course-from-hell."

Nico nodded in agreement. Then he remembered these people didn't know who he was, and he smiled slightly. He was determined to fit in this time. At Brecon Beacons, being weird was part of the normalcy.

"Yeah," Nico said. "But I'd like to see you beat my 10km time."

Cub snorted.

"No way, Devil. That time is inhuman."

Nico laughed and thought again that Cub had no idea. Cub put a hand on his shoulder and started pushing. Nico raised in eyebrow.

"We're moving off," Cub huffed. "Get your insanely fast butt over to hand-to-hand. You're coming to watch me beat up some soldiers."

"Whatever you say, Baby-Bear," Nico teased.

Cub stopped suddenly.

"What did you call me?" He asked, his voice falsely deep and rough. Nico found himself grinning, and turned down the smile a bit.

"I used a synonym. Baby-Bear. Cub. Same thing."

Cub growled and suddenly jumped on top of Nico, barrelling the two of them over. Nico caught a playful glint in Cub's eyes and felt his own filling with excitement from the thrill of the fight.

Cub rolled them over and over, before cuffing Nico upside the head. Nico responded with a shoving hit to the other boys shoulder, just enough to push him off. Cub swerved to avoid it and shot to his feet. His combat boot stood softly down on the bone just below Nico's throat, pinning him to the ground, his other foot on the dirt between the others legs. Nico bent his knees up, preparing to throw Cub off him.

"Wow, Devil. You went down fast!"

The rest of K-Unit had turned around to watch the two boys scuffle. Cub threw a grin over his shoulder. Nico suddenly surged upwards and Cub flew off him. With K-Unit frozen to one side watching, Nico sped over to where Cub was scrambling to his feet. Nico quickly pushed Cub's wrist back into the ground and held it there gently with his boot. His other hand caught Cub's other arm and he held onto it tightly. Nico lifted his head to look at K-Unit. Their jaws were open again, catching flies.

"I don't know why I'm surprised anymore," Snake muttered to himself. Wolf grunted agreement. Nico grinned widely at them before Cub suddenly moved under him. The slippery little agent had wormed his wrist out from under Nico's foot and shot out from between his legs, getting to his own feet. Boot raised to send a knocking blow to Nico's back, Cub grinned. Nico felt the edges of the fabric on his back and ducked, twisting under Cub's leg.

Stalemate.

Cub could easily catch him with a quick flick of his ankle. Nico could jab Cub's ribs or push him off balance. They both conceded their play fight at the same time, returning to normal stances. Behind them, someone whistled.

"I would honestly love to see a session when you two are actually going at each other," The Sergeant said from his doorway. "It would make for some very interesting training."

**Really, thank you everyone! Sorry if Nico's a bit OOC, but it's a friendship story so that's how it goes. Please review and I'll update soon! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Crossed Swords and Bullet Holes**

Finally, there was only weapons testing left.

Alex had done extremely well in everything – as expected. He'd been asked to double-up in hand-to-hand, meaning that two men came at him at once. He'd introduced them to the floor faster than they could blink.

Devil was also recommended for the multiple-attack exercise. Alex and Devil took in turns to brave the mats as more and more men were added to their victim count. Soon, both boys were snaking around seven flailing fists and arms, and they were dodging left and right to deliver blows. Wolf had stopped them there.

"We can't actually _give _you more men," he'd told them grudgingly as the beaten soldiers on the floor groaned. "We need at least some of them not wounded."

Devil and Alex had conceded, before flashing grins at the fourteen men lying on the ground.

"Where the bloody hell did you two _train?!" _One of them groaned, holding a blood-nose and cracked ribs. Alex's face darkened as he remembered the vigorous training Scorpia had given him, along with his honed ability to fight. Next to him, Devil wore a similar expression.

* * *

The weapons shed was stocked with everything anyone could want. Except -

"There aren't any swords."

Silence muffled the large room for a moment before K-Unit and the instructors burst into laughter. Devil, who'd pointed this out, frowned. Eventually, the men calmed down.

"Why would we want _swords?" _One of the weapons specialists asked mockingly. "This isn't the middle ages."

Alex noticed an angry gleam in Devil's eyes, and for the first time he realised that Devil had a walking stick belted to his waist.

"You said we could pick a weapon to start on," he said, deceptively calm. "I pick a sword."

"Well, _kid," _another man said, stressing the word. "We don't _have _swords. They're worthless and don't do anything for _real _SAS men."

At that, K-Unit froze. They'd only seem a miniscule amount of Devil's abilities, and goading him was something they all knew would land someone in hospital, or worse.

"Well then," the pale boy said. "Lucky I brought my own."

No one moved for a minute as the instructors shared incredulous looks and mockingly dragged their hands down their faces. Alex decided to move away from Devil for the moment.

"Whatever kid," one of them said. "You _totally _brought a sword into the SAS training camp without anyone noticing. A sword. You're not fooling anyone. Go home!"

At that, Devil snapped. Alex thanked his instincts for telling him to move.

There was a flash of movement and in seconds, Devil was at the instructor's throat. But it wasn't just him.

A gleaming, pitch black blade hovered inches from the man's jugular vein. Stunned silence filled the shed. The man under Devil started spluttering, but the dark-haired boy cut him off.

"I'd like to begin with a sword," he said again. "Would you deny me my choice?"

The pinned instructor gulped, and shook his head. Devil got off him and, holding up his admittedly terrifying weapon, walked over to one of the sparring mats. He stood there, all eyes on him.

"From our friend over there," He said, gesturing to the instructor he'd pinned. "I suppose none of you know how to use a sword. Or a blade of any type."

"We train with knives," someone muttered. Alex felt sorry for the person as soon as Devil looked at him.

"Oh," he said, another smile flickering onto his face. "Would you get one, then? Perhaps you can try and avenge your friends pride by beating me. After all," at this, he made a face that would, if you didn't know him, make him see innocent. "I'm just a child."

The man he'd spoken to held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm not the knives expert," he said, eyes wide. Devil cocked his head.

"Are you saying you're scared of me?"

Another silence coated the room before a huge grin split the boy's face.

"You are!" He cried. At this, Wolf snorted and tried to cover it with a cough. The challenged man's eyes started to blaze with anger.

"Who would have thought," Devil continued. "That a big, scary SAS man who's trained for years was scared of a boy with a sword. Pathetic."

By now, all five of the instructors were getting riled up. Alex sidled over to Devil and whispered in his ear.

"I'd stop now," he said. "Before they attack you."

Devil looked through his fringe and Alex caught the light in his eyes.

"That's just what I'm hoping for," he replied. Alex suddenly grinned. This would be good. If Devil thought he could take on five men with a sword, Devil could take on five men with a sword. From his limited hours with the boy, Alex knew he always played to his strengths.

* * *

Nico watched in triumph as the five instructors equipped themselves with knives, short blades, dwarf-swords they insisted were just daggers, and their own fists. Nico knew he'd pushed them over the line, which was exactly what he wanted. Catching Jaguar's eye, he called out.

"Would you be so kind as to get the Sergeant?" He asked. "And possibly the infirmary staff too. They'll have a few more patients soon."

"You got that right," one of the prepping instructors growled. "We'll be sending you there in pieces!"

Nico shrugged.

"I wouldn't make promises you can't keep," he said. The man snorted.

"Eat your own words, brat," he snarled, before gripping his dwarf-sword and advancing on Nico. The other four men followed suit.

"All of you at once," Nico observed. "Are you that afraid of a teenage boy you can't attack him without your friends?"

An angry howl came from the lead man.

"Don't retreat!" He roared to his men. "The kids just scared!"

So they all advanced on Nico as one. The son of Hades caught Cub's eye then, and winked. Cub's shoulders lost a little of their tension. Nico was confident. His sword was an extension of himself and he knew it.

Then, the first man attacked.

* * *

Wolf watched as Eagle hit the ground in awe, his jaw hanging open so wide it was like a feasting snakes. Wolf barely managed to keep himself on his feet, while Snake and Jaguar had started making strangled noises in shock.

The fight had barely lasted ten minutes, and if Devil had been allowed to kill, it would have been shorter.

All five instructors were on the ground, all bleeding, nearly all knocked out. Devil stood in the centre and from what Wolf could see, there was not a scratch on him. From the side, Cub was nodding appreciatively. Wolf couldn't supress a shudder of fear.

Cub, he knew, was far too talented for his age. Devil was ridiculously talented for his age. Wolf now feared the wellbeing for the entire camp if these two prodigies ever decided to get revenge on anyone who mocked them.

"You'd think you'd have learnt this on your first day, Davids," a voice said from the doorway. "That if an opponent is too confident, he'll end up kicking your ass to hell."

K-Unit turned around to see the Sergeant standing in the entrance, a small smile on his thin lips. They stood to attention as Sanders passed them.

"At ease," he ordered, and they stood down. The Sergeant stopped in front of the mat.

"Did you hear what I said, Davids?" He asked. A groan replied from the man at his feet.

"He's a fucking kid, sir," Davids gasped.

"He's a fucking dangerous kid, I think you mean," Sergeant corrected. Davids nodded weakly from his sprawled position, clutching his ribs and head. Behind him, still standing in the middle of the mat, Devil chuckled.

"I'm touched," he said smoothly, looking at the Sergeant. The man eyed the sword in the boy's hand.

"I don't think it's every day a kid waltzes in and beats the shit out of my instructors," he replied easily. Wolf felt like fainting himself. "With the exception of Cub."

From the wall, Cub bowed.

"Thank you, sir," he said, a grin on his face. Sanders rolled his eyes and made to leave.

"God help the world if you two join forces," he breathed, shuddering at the thought. Both Cub and Devil grinned, sparing a look at each other that Wolf labelled as the most evil thing he'd ever seen. As the Sergeant passed, Wolf whispered to him.

"You had to put that idea in their heads, didn't you?" He groaned. Sanders swore under his breath before disappearing.

* * *

The rest of the day showed Cub and Devil, indeed, out-ranking everyone at Brecon Beacons. Cub's shooting instructor ate his words when he checked the targets after Cub shot. He showed a stunned group of fellow instructors, even the ones in hospital, after K-Unit had been dismissed.

"I told him, fire six shots," he started as the men stared at the piece of cardboard.

"But-" One of them started, and he was shushed by the others.

"At first I thought he hadn't, but he did it again and I counted. Then I thought luck. But no one's lucky enough to do that every time he shot."

The target only had two holes in the bullseye. Cub had fired six shots.

"He shot the same spot _three times,_" Davids breathed from his bed. The shooting instructor, a man named Langedly, nodded. More jaws dropped. A man from the group who'd challenged Devil groaned.

"I swear to God, I will never ever get on either of those kids bad sides," he muttered. Davids laughed hoarsely.

"Too late, Goodman," he said. Goodman shuddered and put a hand to his forehead and leg, where his wounds were. Devil had whacked him with the butt of his sword after sending a devastating blow to his leg nerves, forcing him to fall down. The other men had similar injuries. They'd learned a valuable lesson, and were making it their mission to teach their fellow soldiers: never, ever, never never ever, challenge Devil or Cub to anything. _Ever. _


	8. Chapter 8

**The Food of the Devil**

Over the next few days, Nico and Cub were given a wide berth. The son of Hades knew that he probably should have toned down his abilities, but having spent the entire time since the end of the war against Gaea in the Underworld honing his skills, he felt he wasn't putting enough effort in as is. Nico thought that their fearful gazes hit a little too close to home, though – he'd come here so he could start again, not be feared. Cub, on the other hand, liked to make fun of the men who walked quickly away from the two as they approached. Instructors never challenged them; Davids had spread the word to just let the boys get on with it. If they said they could do it, they could do it. With not a lot of other human interaction other than K-Unit, the boys had grown rather close together. Nico noticed one day he was changing; he was more open about himself. He also realised, with a start, that he really did care that the SAS men were afraid of him.

One afternoon saw K-Unit in their cabin. The four men were playing cards – Eagle cheating horribly – while Nico and Cub were sprawled on the floor, talking. They'd spent the morning at the shooting range and while Nico wasn't as good as Cub with a gun, he was still better than he should be.

Then, Cub brought up the subject that was on Nico's mind.

"Is it just me, or are you getting sick of how everyone's avoiding us?"

"Yeah," Nico replied. The card game near them stopped abruptly.

"And do you get really annoyed at how, every time we try and have a conversation, K-Unit listens in to see if we're planning on killing them in their sleep?"

Nico snorted and affirmation and muttered "Busted," to the listening men. Wolf sighed and dealt another hand. Eagle kept staring at the two boys.

"You're not actually planning on killing me in my sleep, are you?" He asked uneasily. Nico bent his head back and his eyes flashed red.

"I don't know, Eagle," he mused. "You're pretty murder-worthy."

Jaguar laughed into his cards and Snake clicked his fingers in an 'oh snap!' kind of way. Wolf kept staring at his hand, a smile hidden behind it. Eagle went pale and dived under his bed.

"Can't kill me if I don't sleep!" He cried childishly. Cub shook his head.

"No, no we can't," he conceded. "We'll just have to off you while you're awake then."

Eagle screamed and ran out. Snake put down a set.

"That's got rid of him and his awful cheating," he said, turning over a flush. "I win."

Wolf groaned and so did Jaguar. They packed up the cards on silent order before shuffling over to sit with Nico and Cub.

"Now, about your predicament," Snake started, but Nico cut him off.

"I already have a plan."

Cub blinked. Nico nodded to him.

"I just came up with it."

"Okay," the boy spy said. "Spill."

"You know how everyone complains about the food here?" He asked. Nods were received around the group. Nico grinned. "Well, what if I went a got some actual, edible stuff, and we had a feast with the other units."

Silence was met by his words. Then Cub shook his head.

"We're miles away from anything, Devil," he said. "Though that would work, it's not possible."

The rest of the Unit were quiet and Nico knew they were remembering how he'd shadow-travelled to the roof and back. That was, of course his plan. To shadow-travel to the nearest town and _relieve_ the stores of some grub. The Stolls would be proud.

"And even if we were near anything," Cub continued. "You'd never be able to get out. This place is heavily guarded." He shook his head again. "It can't be done."

"Actually Cub," Nico said. "It can, if it's done by me."

Cub stared at him curiously. Suddenly Wolf nodded.

"He got here before you Cub, and he did this thing…" he trailed off, looking to Snake for an explanation. Said man shrugged in response and Jaguar didn't help one bit because he didn't know either.

"Moving on," Nico said. "I can get out. It might take a few trips to bring back everything I have in mind, but it shouldn't take any longer than an hour. By then, the sun will have set. Wolf," he turned to the Unit leader. "You get the other four Units and bring them here. Don't get the instructors, they get better food anyway."

Wolf nodded and turned to stand.

"Tell them that we're having a party!" Nico called after him. Then he faced Snake and Jaguar.

"You two set up some tables. Steal them from the kitchen if you have too, but make sure there are plenty of surfaces to put food for around thirty men."

The two men nodded and went to obey. Cub kept staring. Nico looked at him.

"You're not coming," he said immediately. The gleam in Cub's eyes was by now familiar and Nico knew what he was planning.

"Oh come on!" Cub exclaimed. "If you can go I want to as well. Besides, I don't have anything to do."

Nico shook his head.

"I don't want my only friend to get shot!" Cub snapped. Silence broke over the two of them. Nico looked up at him, shocked.

"I'm your friend?" He asked hoarsely. Cub nodded, also surprised with himself. Making friends was risky in his business, but he'd bonded with Devil somehow. Nico shook his head in disbelief.

"I've never really had a friend before," he whispered to himself. Cub heard though, and felt a sudden swell of determination.

"Well, I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."

Nico kept staring at the floor.

"I don't want to scare you," he said eventually. "Especially if you're my friend now."

Cub snorted.

"Whatever you're thinking can't be as bad as some of the things I've seen," he said. Nico shook his head again.

"No, it really is. You should be scared."

Cub stopped for a moment.

"I don't care," he said finally. "Besides, you need someone to help carry the bags. Then we can make the time thirty minutes, even though an hour was ludicrous to start with."

"Not happening," Nico stated simply. Cub crossed his arms, frowning.

"Yes, happening," he said.

"You'll have to catch me."

"It's on!"

Nico ran outside into the dying daylight, Cub hot on his heels. Nico knew his trip would have to start with giving Cub the slip and shadow-travelling away. So he ran into the SAS bathrooms. Finding the darkest stall he could, Nico slipped in and locked the door. He concentrated on the supermarket he'd seen across the road from the MI6 headquarters and, just as the bathroom door opened to let Cub inside, Nico was already on his way.

* * *

Plucking meats, fruits, chips and bread from the shelves, Nico chuckled to himself once again. Harnessing the Mist, he'd disfigured the shop owner's vision to make him see nothing, not the trolley Nico had or the food in it and most importantly, Nico himself.

Standing in front of the drinks fridge, Nico grabbed around five to six 3L bottles of various mineral drinks. He couldn't get beer, because the men would be stoned by the next day and that's not what they needed. Piling the drinks into the almost-full trolley, Nico walked out. He was grateful he wouldn't have to lug a million bags with him.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the son of Hades, he had been watched. One camera had been fed an override code, and the man behind the screen watched as Nico left the store, stolen trolley piled high with stolen goods. The shop owner didn't even look up once. The man smiled.

"We seem to have found ourselves a potential bargaining object," he said smoothly, playing back the film and zooming it up to see the SAS seal on the boys back pocket.

An assistant suddenly ran up behind the man. He didn't even glance at them.

"Send out a team to intercept the boy," he demanded. The assistant bowed.

"Yes, Dr Three."

**The plan is unfolding now! Please review! Thank you so much people, honestly it makes me so happy!**

**Jasmine Out!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A Toast to the Devil**

"What cell did you put him in?"

"Actually, Dr-"

"Tell me you didn't lose him."

The assistant hung her head.

"The team arrived seconds after he walked out of the supermarket, sir, but the boy was gone. Just disappeared into thin air!"

Dr Three turned around, scowling.

"We'll need to take more… drastic action, then."

"Of course, sir."

* * *

Nico stayed in the shadows, making them conceal him, until he was sure there was no one in K-Unit's cabin. Then he plunged out of them, driving the trolley into the room. He pulled it to a halt to survey the setting up. Nico nodded in approval.

Tables were crammed into the corners along with the beds, leaving the centre of the room free of clutter for the men to stand. Snake and Jaguar must be getting the final table for the last space left. Nico was glad to see a cover over one of the surfaces; the drinks table. He'd brought cups too, so they were ready.

Nico checked out the window. The sky was stained orange, purple, pink and yellow as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Nico wheeled the trolley towards the first table he found and started unloading it. The drinks went on the covered one, along with the cups. The chips had their own smaller table. The fruit and vegetables were all placed on the biggest surface and Nico made sure to lock the door and blind the windows before he summoned two corpses. He told them to get to work on making the fruit presentable. They did, nimbly slicing and dicing.

Nico himself hauled the cooktop stove he'd gotten from the store onto the last table. He didn't plug it in – there were no sockets anyway – instead holding out his hand. His palm suddenly filled with dark Hellfire, and Nico held it to the burner underneath the stainless steel surface. It caught, and the black flames danced around. Nico arranged a variety of meats – sausages, chops, beef patties, etc – on top of the burning hot silver, and they were done in minutes. That's the thing about Hellfire.

Throwing the loaves of bread to the other end of the table, Nico slipped a particularly juicy slab of beef off the pan and created another Hellfire flame in his hand. Holding the beef over it, Nico started whispering.

"To Hades," he said, and watched at the meat disappeared in a flare of fire. A delicious smell started wafting around the cabin and before Nico could close his fist on the Hellfire, a knock came to the door.

"Devil, you in there? I got the other Units. Why the hell are the windows blacked out?"

Nico put out the Hellfire in his hand, leaving the one under the burner to cook the meat. It couldn't be seen anyway. He unlocked the door, flicked on the lights, and opened it.

Wolf was standing there with a decent sized group of men behind him. As the door opened, noses rose into the air simultaneously, and drool started to creep down each soldiers chins. Nico snorted, thinking of Percy's habit of drooling in his sleep. Then he quickly shut down that train of thought and greeted Wolf.

"Yes, I'm in here. I can see that, and they're blacked out because I'm cooking."

Another slicing sound came from the skeleton chefs and Nico winced. He checked their progress over his shoulder, deemed it fine, and quickly sent them back to the ground. THAT would be hard to explain.

Wolf sniffed the air.

"I can smell that," he said, almost in awe. Nico nodded.

"It's incredibly close to being finished," he said, taking a step back. "So I'll-"

"DEVIL!"

Nico turned to see Cub barrelling down the hill towards the cabin. Even in the pathetic light of the lamps around the camp, Nico could see the look of rage on the other boys face. The soldiers parted before Cub even reached them, terrified for their lives.

"You are so dead," one of them muttered to Nico, and Nico felt slightly inclined to agree. Cub looked scary as Hades.

In seconds Cub was in front of him, diving at Nico. Nico ducked and Cub sailed over his head, exiting with a roll into the room. The fair-haired boy sprung to his feet and whirled around. Nico, thinking quickly, grabbed an apple slice off the fruit table and shoved it in Cub's mouth before he could give Nico and earful.

The teen spy grunted behind the slice and sucked it into his mouth, eating it. Then he grabbed Nico's shoulders and started shaking them.

"Where the hell did you go?!" Cub shrieked. Nico shrugged.

"The supermarket," he answered. A babble of questions started outside as men turned to stare, wide-eyed, at the boy being interrogated by Cub. Before the blond boy could continue though, Wolf was pushed into the room by Eagle, Snake and Jaguar, who looked around in surprise before waving the rest of the Units in. Smothered by noise and the immediate sound of munching, Cub could only hold on to Nico and wonder just how he had gotten out of Brecon, to the supermarket, got all this stuff and gotten back. It defied logic.

* * *

"A toast!" Someone cried.

It was well into the night by now and men had eaten their fill, instead leaning on tables and holding plastic glasses of mineral juice, talking. They all stopped however, when the cry sounded through the air again.

"A toast, to two very annoying brats!"

A chuckle swept through the crowd as Wolf stood up on his bunk. He raised his glass, a red liquid frothing in it. Alex snorted; he didn't peg Wolf as the cherry-mineral-water type of guy.

"As I said before, two very, very annoying kiddies have somehow managed to get this together," Wolf said to the now silent crowd. Eyes turned to Alex and Devil, and a round of applause started. Someone clapped Alex on the back as he was suddenly lifted off his feet and passed over heads to where Wolf was speaking. Devil landed next to him on the bed, and Alex sent the other boy a playful glare. Devil shrugged. They hadn't been able to talk the whole time, and it was driving Alex mad that Devil wouldn't tell him how he got anything done that evening.

"And I suppose it is a rather semi-good honour to have them in K-Unit."

Alex touched his heart mockingly and pretended to wipe away a tear.

"You're so emotional, Wolf," he sobbed theatrically. "Be still my beating heart!"

Wolf growled and the group of SAS men laughed. Devil just nodded, smirking. Alex grinned to himself as Wolf punched his shoulder good-naturedly.

"So," Snake took over now, pushing Wolf off the bed. "Well done, Cub and Devil, for making each and every one of us shit our pants with fear, and then nicking food to share."

Eagle beat his chest twice before holding out the peace sign.

"Respect."

The other men laughed at the hyper K-Unit member, before repeating the gesture. Alex smiled happily. No more being avoided. He looked to his left to see Devil, emotionless as ever, but a content twinkle in his eyes. Alex sighed in relief. He knew they'd both been through horrible things. They deserved something nice.

* * *

The cabin was packed up and clean by three in the morning. Each man had helped return the tables and discreetly pile all the used cups, bottles and paper plates into a box that Nico was going to get rid of. By the time the son of Hades had gotten back from his shadow-travel to the dump, the only men inside the cabin was K-Unit, conversing by candlelight. Nico was about to open the door, before he heard what they were saying.

"I don't know how he does it," Cub was saying. "He ran into the bathroom. I saw the stall lock! And when I opened it he was gone. Just, gone."

Nico stiffened. They were talking about him.

"I wouldn't know Cub, but he's got this look in his eyes… really, it just scares me to death. I swear he can see my soul and read my mind sometimes. He's someone who's seen more than he should."

Snake was talking now, and Nico pursed his lips. They were unpicking what they knew of him. He supposed it should be expected. He listened in empty silence.

"Personally, I'm worried for the kid." Nico gave a start. Wolf?

"He knows more than he should about fighting and war, and that's not right. He should have a girlfriend, be sleeping in, eating more, not breaking assault course records and smashing five experts in sword fighting."

"Aww, whittle Wolfie's worried?" Eagle mocked, and Nico heard the sound of breath leaving body. He assumed Wolf had punched his fellow soldier.

"Eagle, you're so dense," Snake said. "Aren't you wondering about any of this?"

A gasping noise came, and Nico suspected Eagle had tried answering. Wolf sighed.

"What I don't get is how _good _he is!" Jaguar burst. "I mean, he can't just be that good naturally. He's got to have trained somewhere. You don't think…"

* * *

All the men winced at the unspoken implication. Alex looked around, his stomach knotting.

"What?" He asked. Four pairs of eyes looked at him.

"Scorpia," Wolf said eventually. Alex felt himself seize up, remembering his own time at Scorpia. But he made himself shake his head.

"He doesn't fight like someone from Scorpia," Alex said steadily. "He doesn't fight like anything, really. He just fights, and he's damn good."

"But who trained him?" Snake asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Came a voice from the corner. All five of them whipped around to see Devil leaning against the wall in the furthest corner, his foot up against the wood and a cheeky look in his eyes.

"Ah, Devil! Hey!" Eagle said excitedly. Devil shook his head slowly. Eagle bumped down. "How much did you hear?"

"Pretty much all of it," Devil replied, his smile growing. Wolf rubbed his head and Snake shuffled his feet. Jaguar just stared at the black-haired kid unabashedly. Devil blinked slowly and looked at the man.

"A picture lasts longer, Jaguar," he said softly. Alex sniggered as Jaguar looked away. He watched as Devil walked over. Wolf watched him carefully.

"How did you get here?" He asked. The boy stayed standing and leant on the bedframe closest to him.

"I came in a car, like the rest of you," Devil replied, rolling his eyes a bit. Wolf frowned.

"No, I mean in the room. We saw you leave with the rubbish and you didn't come in the door."

Alex watched a wariness creep onto his fellow boy soldier's face.

"Down the chimney."

Wolf shook his head.

"Why didn't we hear you then?"

"Because I was quiet."

Alex snorted. "More like the rest of you need to get your ears checked," he said, swiftly dodging a kick from Eagle.

"Why aren't you covered in soot?" Snake asked suspiciously. Devil sighed.

"Because I didn't come down the chimney," he said. Eagle looked confused.

"But you said you did."

"I lied."

"Well how did you-"

"It's how I was taught."

They all went quiet at that. Alex looked Devil over.

"Who taught you?" He asked. Devil faced him.

"My father did," he said. "It's a family trait, okay. Now, can we go to bed? I don't feel like sleeping through the assault course. It would make me slow and quite frankly, wound my pride."

Wolf just snorted, muttering "You can't _be _slow, whether you're asleep or not," and Eagle bounced onto his bed before immediately falling asleep. Snake looked Devil over one last time before grabbing his book and laying down while Jaguar just piled his covers on top of himself and started snoring. Alex lay on his stomach and watched Devil sit down on his bed. He made no move to sleep. Instead, he unstrapped the walking stick from his waist and ducked behind the bed, before remerging with his black sword in all its creepy glory. Alex watched as Devil started polishing it.

"Go to sleep, Cub," Devil suddenly said and Alex jerked his head up to find the other boy staring at him. He huffed and rolled over, his eyes closing slowly. Eventually, with the sound of cloth rubbing blade, Alex fell into unconsciousness.

**Sorry for not updating sooner! Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Devil's Sources**

Nico only went to sleep when he knew that everyone else was out. He wouldn't have gone even then, but after two days of no sleep he needed a few hours.

The nightmares had gotten worse since the war ended, because there were more horrible and blood-stained moments to relive. Nico always slept fitfully in the Hades cabin, and he just prayed he could get a few undisturbed hours.

Except an hour into his slumber, a demigod dream swirled into his mind.

_Nico was standing in an oddly sterile room, like a hospital. A man stood to one side, bending over a table on wheels that held a tray. The contents of the salver was hidden from view. _

_Suddenly the door next to Nico opened and a woman with ginger hair in a tight bun and a white coat walked in, holding her hands together business-like. The man didn't turn around before he spoke. _

"_What have you got for me?" He asked. His voice was soft and sightly accented, and Nico caught a glimpse of a waxen Chinese face. The man's hair was jet-black, and looked dyed. The woman stopped a few paces from him and produced a clipboard from her coat pocket. _

"_Hardly anything, sir," she replied meekly. "There is no complete file anywhere in the world. This boy seems to have just popped up."_

_Nico furrowed his brow. _

"_Do you have a name for me yet?" The Chinese man snapped and the woman jumped. She fumbled the folder over to him and he scanned a cold eye over it before his lips twitched down in a grimace. _

"_This tells me nothing," he said heatedly. He swung around and faced the woman. "Is this all they had on him?"_

_She nodded in response. The man went back to the paper. _

"_Name: Nico di Angelo. Age: Fourteen. Family: Unknown."_

_Nico stiffened at the sound of his name. He instinctively shrank into the shadows of the corner. He knew his file said more than that, but it seems the CIA had erased the rest of his information. _Thank the gods, _Nico thought. He knew this man was someone who would end up in the Fields of Punishment. _

"_What does our intelligence say?" The man spoke again and the woman winced. _

"_Nothing again," she whispered. "Only that he seems to be acquainted with Alex Rider."_

_Nico's eyes widened at the sound of his fellows name. He knew Alex had enemies – his eyes told more than he'd care to admit – but how was learning about Nico going to help them?_

"_Would Rider come to retrieve Master di Angelo if he were to be… taken?" The Chinese man said, sneering the question. Nico puffed his breath out in annoyance. He could deal with mortals himself, thank you very much. _

"_I think so, sir. They're in the same unit at the training grounds."_

_The man stroked his pasty chin. _

"_Fine," he said. "Send in a team."_

_The woman bowed. _

"_Yes, Dr Three."_

_The dream started twirling out of focus, signalling the end. But before he was whisked back into sleep, Nico saw the contents of the platter. _

_Handfuls of scalpels and knives shone from the tray. One of them had a rag underneath. It was stained red._

* * *

Nico's eyes shot open to see Eagle hovering over him. The man looked surprised, and his hand was raised to prod Nico's shoulder. Nico breathed in deeply for a moment to stop his heart racing.

"Well that was scary," Eagle commented, before literally jumping onto Cub's bed. Nico heard an _oof _sound come from the SAS soldier, and smirked when he saw Cub walk in through the door, towel in hand. His fair hair was stained brown from water and strands were dripping onto his shoulders. Nico blinked slowly to shake away the comparing images between Cub and Percy. He had a serious problem here.

Dr Three.

"Cub, where have you been?" Snake asked, tying up his mossy-green boots. Cub flashed him a grin.

"Showers," he replied. "Some of us don't want to smell like Wolf's underpants all day."

Said leader was, thankfully, still sleeping. Jaguar threw a boot at the man and a grunt came from the covers before Wolf, in all his bed-headed glory, immerged. He looked mad already. Nico quietly slipped out of the cabin before the unit leader blew.

* * *

"Enter."

Nico pushed the door to the Sergeants office open and walked in. Sanders leaned away from his desk and looked up.

"Devil," he said, clearly surprised. "What do you want?"

Nico sighed. He hated telling people about his dreams, or anything in them. But there was no way Cub would tell him what he needed to know, so the Sergeant it was.

"I have a couple of questions," Nico said. Sanders nodded for him to continue.

"Who's Dr Three?"

Whatever the man was expecting, that wasn't it. His face drained of colour and he stared at Nico with wide eyes.

"Why? How do you even know him?"

Nico stuck his tongue out a bit in concentration, thinking of an explanation. Eventually, he just shrugged. Sanders narrowed his eyes.

"Is this about Cub?"

The question threw Nico off and it took a second for him to nod. Sanders sighed.

"Devil, I shouldn't be telling you this. It's classified. But… Dr Three is one of the leading heads of a criminal organisation called Scorpia. They've disbanded from criminal activities though, instead…"

He looked uneasy. Nico shrugged, gesturing that the man could skip that bit of the story.

"Well, Dr Three's the world's leading expert in torture. Even written books on it, the sicko. But… he has a grudge against Cub. That's all I'm telling you. Scorpia has it out for that kid."

Nico nodded. He stood up.

"You're not to tell anyone," Sanders said. Nico smirked.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

"Cub."

Alex spun around from where he was gleefully watching Eagle get pummelled into the sparring mats. The grin wiped itself across his face when he saw the look on Devil's, though.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Alex nodded slowly, ignoring Eagle screaming something about chocolate, and followed Devil down to the base of the hill. Alex sat beside his friend.

"What's up?" He asked. Devil looked straight ahead.

"You do a very good job, Cub," he said suddenly. Alex raised his eyebrows.

"Uh, thanks?"

Devil shook his head, a small smile on his face. He balanced his arms on top of his bent knees and looked through his black fringe at Alex.

"I mean about hiding it. You do a very good job of hiding your pain behind your eyes, Alex."

Alex went stiff as a board. Emotions jumbled through him and he couldn't decide which one to feel the strongest about. Fear. Anger. Uncertainty. Devil shook his head again.

"I'm not a double-agent if that's what you're thinking," he said, seeming to read Alex's mind.

"How do you know my name?" Alex asked when he found his voice. Devil turned to face him, shifting his legs around. He looked right into Alex's eyes and the teen spy knew at that moment that Devil could see straight through him.

"I was told it when I did a job for Mr Byrne of the CIA," he said. Then he hesitated, but said no more. Alex started becoming suspicious. Devil loosened up his eyebrows.

"If it really bothers you that I know your name, mine's Nico. But that's not what I wanted to ask."

Alex looked at the walking stick on Devil's hip and nodded for him to continue. He heard the other boy take a short breath.

"I suppose I'm being hunted, Alex. You'll know the man. You've met him. Can you tell me everything you know about Dr Three?"

* * *

Wolf watched as Cub and Devil's conversation continued at the base of the hillock. No one had told them off, because they were far more advanced than the soldiers in hand-to-hand. Eerily advanced, as though they'd had to fight for their lives many times over.

Wolf shook his head to clear it. It wasn't his business. He waited for Eagle to be taken down – again – before their shift was up and they had to move on to the next training exercise.

"Oi, Cub! Devil! We're moving on!"

The two boys seemed to have finished their talk, and Devil yanked Cub up by his jacket before speeding towards K-Unit. He stopped in front of them, not even flushed. Cub came by soon after, and the men moved off towards the lake.

"What're we doing?" Devil asked, eyeing Eagle as he whined about his bruises. Snake sighed in content.

"Swimming," he replied wistfully, "a chance to cool down."

Devil stiffened, as did Cub. They shared of look that said _HELP, _and Wolf raised an eyebrow.

"Scared of water, Devil?" He asked, trying to sound teasing. Devil shot him a dark glare.

"Not so much scared," he said slowly, "more I value myself as a whole, not as tiny pieces."

They reached the lake, and Devil stubbornly sat down as far as he could from it, eyeing the still water like it would swallow him whole. Wolf exchanged looks with the rest of his unit as Cub sat down too.

"Don't tell me both of you are bailing," Jaguar snorted as he pulled off his shirt. Cub and Devil crossed their arms in sync and glared at Jaguar, whose face paled and he practically ran for the water to get away. Wolf looked between the two boys, frowning.

"It's a swimming test," he said sternly, "and all soldiers are required to do it."

Devil rolled his eyes.

"Why?"

"Because in a situation where the only escape is water, we need to know that you're able to swim fast," Wolf replied. Devil smirked.

"I don't need to swim fast," he said, "I just need to know where I'm going."

Beside him, Cub shifted. Wolf glared at Devil.

"Water," he growled, "now."

"I'll be blasted to bits before I even get a stroke in," Devil argued, and Wolf's face contorted in confusion. Devil sighed and stood up. He looked into Wolf's eyes and started making the man relive some of his worst fears. He hated to do it – K-Unit had grown on him, like a family now – but he was not going in the lake. Poseidon would never forgive him.

Wolf shrank back and scampered for the water, not giving the two a second look. Devil sat back down, feeling slightly bad. Cub stared at him.

"What did you do?" He asked. Devil shrugged.

"Convinced him," he said tonelessly. Then he looked at his friend. "Why'd you not want to go in?"

Alex drew breath at the question. Devil raised an eyebrow at him and the young spy exhaled.

"Had some nasty experiences with water," he half-lied. He had developed a distaste for swimming since all the things that had happened to do with it, but mostly he didn't want to reveal his scars. The many littering his arms and chest and back, and most of all, the closed bullet wound above his heart.

Devil seemed to know he was lying – it was written all over his face – but he accepted the excuse.

"Yeah," he muttered, "same here."

* * *

After K-Unit finished their laps, it was almost dark, and they were eager to get to the cabin. They changed into their normal army fatigues in the bathroom on the way, Cub and Nico taking quick showers since they didn't swim, and headed to the hut the unit shared.

Wolf looked troubled, his brow creased in concentration as he entered the cabin.

"What's wrong, Wolf?" Snake asked, popping his head into the doorway to look inside. Wolf shuddered slightly.

"Don't know, Snake," he said, "but I feel like someone's been in here."

Behind him, Nico snapped to attention, his eyes narrowed.

"Someone's been in here?" He repeated. "Can I see, Wolf?"

Wolf nodded slowly as Nico skittered forward, Cub close behind. Jaguar looked on worriedly. No matter how many times those two kicked his butt, he still saw kids, and he still saw kids who were in danger.

Nico stepped into the cabin and walked towards the furthest point. Wolf was right. Someone had been in here. And they still were.

K-Unit suddenly stumbled inside, exclamations of surprise echoing around the cabin as the door slammed shut, leaving the windows to filter in light. That's how the men and two boys saw their attackers before the ambushers activated their gas masks and the room was flooded with a white mist. Nico felt a spurt of panic in his chest as he slumped forward, fighting the gas. The others were already out, but his demigod resistance allowed him to counteract the knockout substance. He saw Cub lying a few feet away, and tried to reach him.

"That one's still awake," a gruff voice said above Nico. He twisted around to see who it was, and only saw clumpy books and a dark green jacket.

"Well, fix that!" Another replied, and Nico barely rolled out of the way before the butt of a gun slammed the wood where he was seconds before. He got unsteadily to his feet, his eyes watering as he fought the gas. Five men converged on him, mixed looks of annoyance and surprise showing behind their masks.

"Green jackets," he mumbled as they moved towards him. One of them snorted.

"Yeah kid, and we're gonna make you wish you'd never been born."

"No," Nico murmured, smirked tiredly, "you're going to wish you never met me."

His sleepy limbs still had power in them, and as the men came forward he struck out. One fell to his knees and hunched over, holding his gut while Nico brought and glancing blow down on his back. Another green jacket attacked from behind and Nico crouched, tripping him. The man went flying across the room and landed on top of Wolf, dazed. Nico felt for his walking stick and pulled it out. It transformed and his sword started glowing eerily. The rest of the men backed up, fear written on their faces.

"What the bloody hell…" one of them cursed, gazing stupidly at Nico. The son of Hades grinned devilishly at him.

"Boo."

To his eternal amusement, the men jumped back. Nico laughed as their expressions turned angry, then conspiratorial. Suddenly something behind him moved and Nico felt a sharp jab in his shoulder. He cursed himself for letting the gases get to his head as the sedative needle did its work and he slumped over again. He just had time to Mist his sword into his ring – they would take a walking stick – before his eyes closed against his will and he was out.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Devil in Chains**

Nico woke up earlier than he should have. It must be his demigod resistance. He knew he shouldn't be conscious because he could feel his sleepy body being handled downwards, presumably from a truck or some form of transportation. The person carrying him wasn't very gentle.

"This thing weighs nothing," they spat, jerking Nico forwards. Nico cracked open his eyelids a little and saw a small, concrete building surrounded by scraggly shrubs with tall trees in the distance. Gravel crunched under his captor's feet as the man carried the young demigod.

"Speak for yourself." Another man grunted. "This sucker's got a tonne on 'im."

Nico saw a green jacket struggling under the body of an unconscious Wolf, who was pissing off his enemies even when he wasn't awake to do so. The son of Hades held back a small, fond smile. That would give him away.

"Wha… Hallery, why do they have two boys with 'em?"

The man holding Nico turned around. The half-blood saw another green jacket folding Alex's form into his arms.

"SAS are nutters," Hallery replied. "But at least it'll make our job easier."

"Oi, sir, you make sure that one's tied tightly!" Another man yelled at Hallery. He gestured to Nico. "The kid's a slippering one. Archer's team reported that in the truck."

For the first time, Nico realised there was something around his wrists, shoulders and ankles. As Hallery turned towards the building, he smoothly tugged his hand the tiniest bit. Rough rope dragging across his skin answered the movement. Nico sighed inwardly. Mortals. So primitive.

Nico instincts told him to lash out now and escape. He could do it easily. But he had a duty to his unit, and wherever they were taken he would follow. Or lead, in this case, seeing as Hallery was the first inside the building. Plenty of time for kicking butt later, when he figured out where he was, what these men were doing and why he was here.

Nico kept a strained eye on the green jacketed man carrying Alex. Brecon was referred to as 'Hell on Earth' by the soldiers, and as sceptical and ironic Nico found that, he and Alex had officially been through 'hell' together, and the boy was the closest the demigod had to a friend. He wasn't going to let him get hurt.

Metal doors clanged open in front of the faking half-blood and Nico moved his limited attention to where he was going. He realised Hallery had stopped in the middle of a stone room around the same size as K-Unit's cabin. The man walked to the corner of the room and just dropped Nico on the floor. The dark haired boy growled. Hallery smirked.

"Ah, how long have you been awake, little bat?"

Nico gagged at the nickname and rolled on his now bruised shoulder to stare fully at the grinning man. He scowled and said nothing. Hallery rolled his eyes and suddenly shot a sharp kick to Nico's stomach. Nico flinched slightly and the man chuckled.

"You got yourself in deep here, little bat," Hallery said. "RTI isn't anywhere for sweet boys like you."

Nico snapped some extremely rude words at Hallery in a mixture of Greek and Italian. The man looked confused, but it didn't take a genius to figure out the kid was cussing. He curled his fist and punched Nico's chest hard, pushing the air out of the bound boy's lungs.

"I'm not sweet," Nico ground out breathlessly, baring his teeth and facing Hallery. The man shrugged.

"It's more fun when they're not," he said casually, before grinning again. "Especially when they can curse in weird languages. What was it you were speaking there, little bat?"

Nico clamped his mouth shut and just glared. Hallery sighed in mock disappointment. He was about to say something when the door swung open to reveal a group of men in green jackets carrying the rest of the unconscious K-Unit. They dumped their unwilling passengers, then joined Hallery at Nico's side. Their eyes widened slightly.

"The hell kid," one of them said, and Nico recognised him from the cabin. "Do you got a thing against knock-out drugs or somethin'?"

Nico smiled his vampire smile and the guy stepped back a bit.

"Let's go with 'or something'," he said slyly. The group of men shuddered slightly and Nico swallowed a laugh. Hallery glared at Nico for a moment longer before waving his crew out.

"Come on guys. Let the sweet thing ponder in his darling thoughts while his unit members wake up. It won't be long until we're back to get some answers out of them."

Then they all turned and left. Nico heard several locks click from the metal door, which was flush against the stone walls.

"I'm not sweet!" He yelled angrily. Finally, the son of Hades looked over at K-Unit.

Wolf was sprawled on his stomach, chin propped against the ground. Nico scanned the men and other boy quickly. No one else was restrained. Alex was furthest from Nico, lying sideways on an outstretched arm and teetering on his hip bone, facing the wall. Eagle was spread out on his back, and Nico refused to think of the pun associated with the position. Snake was flopped against the wall and Jaguar was on his front, his head turned to the side and arms raised above his head. Their breathing was speeding up, meaning they were waking. Nico didn't bother hiding his relief. He was the only one to witness it for now, but when Snake finally stirred, he wiped the expression off his face and stayed quiet.

* * *

The medic's eyes opened groggily, fuzzy images filtering through his retinas and producing one weird picture in his mind. Since when did their cabin have stone walls…?

Then he bolted upright, awake in an instant. Snake's head whipped around and observed his sleeping unit one member at a time as he remembered they had been ambushed.

He noticed a pair of black eyes staring at him from the corner of the room and Snake scrabbled over to Nico, who was lying in a curious position in the shadows.

"Oh my God, Devil," he breathed. "Are you okay?"

Nico shrugged in response, careful to hide the ropes around him. He would deal with them later and didn't need Snake fussing over it.

"Do you know where we are?"

This time Nico replied.

"RTI."

Snake's face lost its colour and he sat down on his haunches. He stared at the wall for a second before looking back at Nico.

"Resistance to Interrogation," he supplied. Nico nodded.

"I thought as much."

"Green Jackets," Snake growled, his eyes flashing. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"They're called Green Jackets?" He questioned, amused. Snake nodded. He was about to continue, but a groan that could only be Wolf interrupted. Snake looked over his shoulder at the unit leader and crawled over to him as the man sat up angrily.

"When I get my hands on who did this…" he threatened, before seeing Snake and moving towards him.

"What's the situation?" he asked. Snake shook his head.

"RTI," he replied, and Wolf snarled.

"Shit."

"Shit indeed."

"Aww, man!"

"Eagle, no one cares they took your muffins!"

"But we never get muffins!"

"Shut up!"

Wolf and Snake looked to the side to see Jaguar and Eagle had regained consciousness and were arguing. Snake sighed and Wolf rolled his eyes before looking around. His gaze rested on Cub, and he scooted over to check the kid for injuries.

"Devil's over there," Snake said, and Wolf looked to where the medic indicated to see the pale glowing skin of the unit's second resident prodigy. A small smile flickered on his face at the sight of Nico and he moved over to him. He frowned when he noticed Nico was lying down.

"You okay, Devil?" He asked, authority mixing with concern. Nico smirked.

"Just peachy, Wolf," he replied. "This is pretty much standard."

Wolf nodded, not really following.

"Well, come over here. We need to sort this out before the Green Jackets come back."

Nico narrowed his eyebrows and said, "Just a moment." Wolf noticed a slight motion in the thick shadows around his unit member and reached out. His fingers found Nico's wrist, and the harsh rope wound around it.

"Jesus, Devil!" he growled, and pulled Nico out of the comforting shades so he could see the knots.

"That would be an oxymoron," Nico quipped, but Wolf wasn't listening. His eyes roamed over the thick ties around the boy's upper arms, wrists and feet, and he slapped his face with a palm.

"Snake," he called. "Get over here."

Snake came quickly, and frowned at Nico when he saw the problem. He glared at the dark haired boy.

"You could have told me," he said grumpily. Nico huffed and wriggled away.

"I can take care of myself," he said. "Go check on Cub."

Wolf and Snake looked over their shoulders to see Jaguar and Eagle hovering over a yawning Alex, who was just waking up. They turned back to Nico.

"No need," Wolf said slyly. "Eagle's all over it."

A yelp sounded behind them and the three SAS members craned their necks to see Eagle flattening Alex to the floor.

"Oh yeah," Snake muttered dryly. "He's all over it."

Wolf scowled and yanked Devil onto his lap before he started attacking the knots. Nico protested, but Snake shoved the boy's face into Wolf's side and all they heard was muffled cursing.

By the time they'd gotten the rope off Nico's biceps, Alex, Eagle and Jaguar had joined them and began to help. Alex was talking to Nico, keeping him calm so he didn't lash out at K-Unit as soon as he could – and even if he couldn't – while Eagle spat out twines from chewing the knots, Wolf growled as the hard rope dug into his fingers, Jaguar cursed as he pulled back nails on the thick cord and Snake checked over Nico's skin for inflammation and rawness. By the time they were done, Nico was mighty pissed, Eagle had bits stuck between his teeth, and Wolf was angry. Snake had deemed Nico fine, and Jaguar had retreated a safe distance while Alex sat with his friend and convinced him it was alright to get help sometimes.

Nico rubbed his fingers, checking them for his ring. Relief tingled his spine as he found it. They hadn't taken his weapons. You could conceal a lot more than a sword in an enchanted ring.

Wolf gathered K-Unit into a circle and started off the planning session. It was part of the RTI program – plan your strategy for keeping your mouth shut.

"When they come for us, they'll only take one person at a time. We need to know if there might be anyone they'd go for first, otherwise we'll have to assume they'll pick up me, as I'm the leader."

"They might peg for Cub or Devil," Snake added. "They'd think they might get under a kids skin quicker. No offence." He added as Alex and Nico glared at him.

"Snake is right," Nico said, after glaring. "One of the guys has a thing against me. I think the team does, because of the whole cabin thing."

They looked confused, so Nico explained in the barest detail what happened. Afterwards, even Wolf looked impressed.

"Nice job, Devil," he praised gruffly. Then he was all business again.

"So they'll probably come for Devil first." He looked at Nico. "Got any ideas how you're gonna beat them?"

"With a stick," Nico said, smirking at the joke. Eagle giggled and Alex grinned. Snake and Jaguar snorted and Wolf rubbed his eyes, inwardly smiling.

"I have my ways," Nico said eventually, and Wolf looked up. Nico leaned in conspiratorially, and K-Unit followed suit.

"You can just leave it to me."


End file.
